The Online Shopping Thread

This is a discussion on The Online Shopping Thread within Gadgets, Computers & Software, part of the Shifting gears category; Have great experience with Amazon but cant say the same for Ebay.
Amazon delivered the below products on or before ...

Would some one please provide me WS retail address, which is the primary seller on Flipkart.....
By the way, who is WS retail CEO and where can i get his address. Why are they not easily
reachable on internet?

Shipping is done over Hongkong post & delivered here by India Post, SLA is 15 business days, which is over now...

Not sure if I need to wait for few more days, also service by India Post is quite unreliable here in Blore...

Finally, after 50 days I received the order yesterday!

I had placed this order at DX.com based on some positive feedback shared on this thread, but I am very disappointed with this experience, two reasons mainly:
1. It took 50 long days for the delivery!
Even if it was regular postal service, do you need 50 days? Can't believe it!
2. Main reason - I ordered a Nikon HB-32 lenshood, looking at the item pic & description at their website, it definitely looks like a original Nikon lenshood.http://www.dx.com/p/nikon-hb-32-plas...8#.U8-CFo26bZ4
But, shockingly, the one I received doesn't have 'Nikon' or 'Made in China' printed on the lens hood, it just says 'HB-32'.
Undoubtedly, they sent me a fake lens hood.
I can digest 50 days delivery, but not a fake product at a price of original item!

I will try raising a ticket & demand for return and refund, but I don't expect a positive response!

50 days is a little on the higher side, although, if you check, you'll see that it would have spent the longest time with customs.
And refund won't be a problem if you raise a ticket. You either get the money back, or, he'll ship you a new one.

I had placed this order at DX.com based on some positive feedback shared on this thread, but I am very disappointed with this experience

And this is my first & last purchase at a shady chinese website!!!

The original lens hood costs about 14 USD. No offense but you weren’t really expecting the original hood for that low, were you?

Dealextreme shipments take anywhere from 15 days to 3 months for delivery. I am not really sure what causes this but I am betting on our customs department more than anything else. I have received an HDMI to DVI adapter (4 years back when it wasn’t available here as it does today) in 15 days whereas a bunch of 3m HDMI cables took 3 months! I did not bother filing a complaint since it was dirt cheap and had no hopes of a refund. The package arrived after a long delay when I wasn’t expecting it. Sometimes, the shipment may not deliver at all. It has happened with me once. Again, it was a cheap plush toy.

Did you try local Indian websites for the hood? Lastly, does the DX hood fit your lens properly?

The original lens hood costs about 14 USD. No offense but you weren’t really expecting the original hood for that low, were you?

Agree, but why are they showing the pic of original Nikon lenshood in their website?
This is misleading! If I knew it was a fake, would have NEVER bought it, rather bought the Omax lenshood from Flipkart!

Quote:

Did you try local Indian websites for the hood? Lastly, does the DX hood fit your lens properly?

Indian websites doesn't have original Nikon lenshood, they have Omax etc.

Also, the fake lenshood doesn't have dot marking that help to align with & fit onto the lens, with some struggle was able to fit it. Anyways, I am not going to use this fake lenshood!

For mobiles, computer components, accessories, and some electronics; I find that over the last 1 year, I have completely shifted to online. There are 2 factors for me that caused the switch: lower prices and service.

In my experience, offline shops used to be price competitive till around 2012-13 but online are much cheaper now and recently I saw a online price advantage of 3,000 on a 45,000 mobile, and 5,000-6,000 on iphone 5s. Faced with this, offline shops trot out these excuses (if you believe them, go for offline)
1. online give second hand
2. online give old products
3. online do not deliver soon
4. online give no service (as if a brick and mortar retail shop is going to repair your mobile, AC etc)
5. the most ridiculous excuse: we are not competing against offline and you should not compare us with offline. Why should I not. I get cheaper price which is somewhat offset by instant delivery for offline (4-5 hours to 3-4 days online).

The second point is service and returns. Let me relate two recent June-july 2014 experiences in this regard:
1. Amazon, July 2014: bought a replacement HTC mobile charger which when delivered looked used and did not work. Immediately filed a return on amazon. The seller told me to courier the item at his cost and promised a replacement. Now why should I go to the hassle of doing this and take the risk of courier cost. So I posted a feedback on amazon india with my comments and the lowest possible rating. Within 15 mins, I got a call from the seller and after apologising, he promised a replacement which came after 2 days. He said that if there are enough negative feedbacks, amazon removes the seller from its site.

3. Flipkart, July 2014: I had bought a HTC One M8 in June 2014 and amazed by its battery life, ordered a second one in mid-July 2014. It arrived in 1 day (paid Rs. 90 extra). However, the battery life was not as great and so worried, I filed a return/replacement after 36 hours of purchase. Subsequently, I think the issue was with some bloatware that I had installed on the phone and there was no problem with the phone as such. Anyway, I kept the return in place and flipkart promised a reply in 24 hours. Nothing happened in 24 hours (Mon morn-Tues morn). So on Tuesday 1030 am, I gave a call to flipkart and asked. They said they will do it on priority and get back in hours. Nothing happened and so a more stern call was made at 5 pm. They said they will mail me on the status (return/new replacement) on the same day before 9 pm. Nothing happened again and so on Wed morning 630 pm, I gave a call again and became even more agitated. The flipkart rep asked me to troubleshoot which I said I had done. So he said, he will approve the return/replacement request and I will get a brand new replacement on same day. This time, they kept their word, and I got the brand new htc one m8 at 530 pm. Although it ended well, I was not impressed by flipkart's callous attitude and putting the onus on the customer to follow up.

The bottomline is that regardless of the somewhat painful experience with flipkart, it would have been far worse with offline retailers who would perhaps asked me to contact HTC. Plus, prices are cheaper online and I feel more confident about getting a redressal on a defective product.

I placed the order on 18 Jul, and was at my doorstep on 23 Jul! Didnt get stuck in customs, as the vendor had quoted a US$30 gift invoice (although they can't guarantee customs clearance).

Awesome!

And lucky you! I had to pay 3700 Rs. to India Post along with submitting a bunch of documents to get it cleared from the customs. This is a great deal although you had to pay more for the FedEx shipping. But with FedEx/DHL/UPS, you get a proper tracking system, assured delivery and a faster delivery. China Post would have taken anywhere from 20 days to a month.

EDIT: And looks like my review on his feedback section got him quite a few orders from India.

In my experience, offline shops used to be price competitive till around 2012-13 but online are much cheaper now and recently I saw a online price advantage of 3,000 on a 45,000 mobile, and 5,000-6,000 on iphone 5s. Faced with this, offline shops trot out these excuses (if you believe them, go for offline)
1. online give second hand
2. online give old products
3. online do not deliver soon
4. online give no service (as if a brick and mortar retail shop is going to repair your mobile, AC etc)
5. the most ridiculous excuse: we are not competing against offline and you should not compare us with offline. Why should I not. I get cheaper price which is somewhat offset by instant delivery for offline (4-5 hours to 3-4 days online).
.

The fact is that they cannot compete against the online stores. Flipkart and Amazon do not have to open multiple showrooms across the city to attract customers, pay rent and other associated costs.

A couple of years back I had read this article that brick and motor shops were now becoming the place where people touch and feel the product and buy online.

Let me ask you this question - Would you like a situation where phones/laptops etc are 'only' sold online - No display - No place to see it?

The showrooms too are adapting and offering products online which is the way they can survive. The only solace they have is that the volumes can offset the obvious cost mismatch they have.
What I hate is the bookshops with their huge profit margin will never pass the benefits to customers. I used to be a weekly customer at Starmark in Calcutta and they never deemed fit to give me any discount for my patronage.

In the end the market develops in the way it is beneficial to the customer and if this indeed the way to go, it will.
P.S. I buy products both online and in showrooms. Hell I even buy groceries online.

Let me ask you this question - Would you like a situation where phones/laptops etc are 'only' sold online - No display - No place to see it?

Everyone has their personal preference, but for phones, computer components, etc; I am quite comfortable with not seeing them before purchase. Anyway, in most of the shops, many of the products that they offer are not for display or one sees a dummy mockup. I felt the HTC One M8 (and an earlier HTC One M7) the first time, when I got it at home. The phones were bought online.

In June 2014, I did a check for HTC One M8 price online, went to offline shops (to get instant delivery). However, the offline shops were at dearer by a minimum of 2,000 and a max of 4,000. When I quoted the online price, and after bargaining, the 2,000 difference was reduced to 1,000. What turned me off was that when you quote the online price or say you have bought online, the regular shops think you are an idiot for even considering buying online. So I saved a min of 2,000 but got the phone 21 hour later.

Offline shops does match online price, in my experience. You need to bargain harder. Recently bought Toshiba 32P2305 from Gopu Nandhilath,TVM at exactly same price listed in Flipkart. They are aware that the online shops are taking away their business.

I had placed an order on DX.com about a month back and am yet t receive it. It was a low value order and hence there was no tracking number provided. I was prepared for a 15-20 days wait, but this is getting too long and I am wondering if I should just cancel this.